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Planetary Geology
Gewhimicu YI Cosnwch~miu Printed in Great Bntain
kru
Pcrgamon
Vol 45. pp. 779 to 780
Press Ltd
ROOK REVIEWS
planetary Geology, by JOHN Gum-r with PAUL BvrrruWORTH,JOHN MURRAYand WILL~AHO’DONNELL. Wiley, 1979, 208 pp., S19.95.
The volume is well-designed. Images are printed on right-hand pages, with corresponding text explanations printed on facing pages, so the reader has little difficulty in identifying the features described. The authors have done an excellent job of placing the images in their proper historical perspectives by describing the state of knowledge based upon telescopic observations before discussing the newer interpretations based upon mission photography. In particular, the Introduction (9 pp.) is a pleas&’ philosophical treatment which contrasts the evolution of terrestrial geology, which, by and large, has proceeded from examining details of the Earth’s structure to generalizing global pempectives, with modem studies of other planets, which of necessity have reversed this approach, moving from observations of global features to observations or deductions concerning smaller structures. The authors have omitted references to the literature in order to avoid ‘breaking up the text’. In doing so they certainly have made the book readable, which is very important at the introductory level; however, the reader who finds a topic interesting enough to pursue further will have to look elsewhere for clues. A list of selected readings would have been a valuable addition to the volume. The senior author, John Guest, a lecturer in Physics and Astronomv at Universitv Colleae London. has been active in lunar and planetary research since the.first days of the Apollo program; his personal perspective on recent history contributes much to the overall flavor of the book. In summary, the volume is a very readable, in places downright entertaining (consider, for example, the description on p. 188 of the early astronomer Asaph Hall’s revivification), catalog of planetary surface features which have been observed in A-merican-and Soviet exploratory missions during the last 20 years. Students and others desiring an introduction to the field of planetary photogeoiogy will find the volume very rewarding.
THIS VOLUMEis an exotllcnt introduction to surface features of the Moon, Mercury and Mars, which should be comprehensible to undergraduates and useful to anyone wanting a first close look at the surfaces of other planets. The word geology in the title is a misnomer: the book is devoted entirely to a series of photogeologic essays on planetary surface features. Data from other disciplines are mentioned only when they contribute directly to the interpretation of surface features seen in pictures. Major sections discuss impact craters, maria, basins, faults, lava flows, rilles, mascons and the highlands of the Moon (49 pp.); impact craters, major basins, plains regions and the south pole of Mercury (36 pp.); and impact craters, basins, volcanoes, faults, canyons, channels, wind erosion, the poles, the moons and other features of Mars (91 pp.). Very brief sections on Venus and Jupiter’s satellites are teasers, which the authors included even though they knew that new missions would soon provide images with much better resolution than those which were available to them (the book was being completed just as Voyager I was reaching Jupiter in early 1979). The authors have been careful to point out the constraints which are imposed upon photographic interpretations by the limits of resolution of the images, and have identified many of the geological problems which currently interest researchers. I should like to have seen more space devoted to specific discussions comparing and contrasting the ways in which essentially similar geologic processes have operated to produce different kinds of features, depending upon the planetary environment. In particular, the book would have profited from a more liberal use of illustrations (I could find only one) of terrestrial features (e.g. impact craters, volcanoes, lava flows) which are analogs of the features seen on other planets and with which students of terrestrial geology are likely to be familiar in other contexts.
Handbook of Jhviroamenml isotope Gedmdtry, The Temstrial Envirommeot,A, edited by P. FRITZ CH. FONTES.Elsevier, 1980, 545 pp.. S90.25.
Lunar and Planetary Institute
RUSSEU B. MERRILL
3303 NASA Road 1 Houston, TX 77058, U.S.A.
Vol 1, and J.
COLLECTION of papers is the first of an eventual five volumes dealing with environmental isotope geochemistry. Volume 2 will also deal with the terrestrial environment, Vols 3 and 4 with the marine environment and Vol. 5 with the high temperature environment. In this volume nine of the twelve chapters concern the applications of isotope methods in hydrology and aqueous geochemistry: The isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in precipitation; Carbon-14 in hydrogeological studies; Environmental isotopes in groundwater hydrology; Environmental isotopes in ice and snow; Isotopic evidence on environments of geothermal systems; Sulphur and oxygen isotopes in aqueous sulphur compounds; Uranium disequilibrium in hydrologic studies; Oxygen and hydrogen isotope effects in iow-temperature mineral-water interactions; Environmental isotopes as environmental and chmatological indicators. The remaining three chapters are devoted to aspects of the iso-
THIS
779
tope geochemistry of particular elements: The isotopic composition of reduced organic carbon; Nitrogen-15 in the natural environment; Sulphur isotopes in our environment. Each chapter is intended to stand by itself as a review of a particular research area and is written by a specialist (or specialists) in that area. Between them the contributors to this volume demonstrate well how the abundances of stable isotopes and the activities of natural and artificially produced radioactive ones may be used as tracers of source materials and as indicators of geochemical processes and the physical and chemical conditions under which they take place. The emphasis is, as it should be, on principles, results and interpretations but the reference lists at the end of each chapter will enable the interested reader to track down details of experimental and analytical methods. The five volume series is an ambitious undertaking but will be a worthwhile one if the quality of this first volume is maintained. Department of Chemistry McMaster University Hamilton 16, Ontario, Canada US 4 Ml
C. E. REEK
kru
Pcrgamon
Vol 45. pp. 779 to 780
Press Ltd
ROOK REVIEWS
planetary Geology, by JOHN Gum-r with PAUL BvrrruWORTH,JOHN MURRAYand WILL~AHO’DONNELL. Wiley, 1979, 208 pp., S19.95.
The volume is well-designed. Images are printed on right-hand pages, with corresponding text explanations printed on facing pages, so the reader has little difficulty in identifying the features described. The authors have done an excellent job of placing the images in their proper historical perspectives by describing the state of knowledge based upon telescopic observations before discussing the newer interpretations based upon mission photography. In particular, the Introduction (9 pp.) is a pleas&’ philosophical treatment which contrasts the evolution of terrestrial geology, which, by and large, has proceeded from examining details of the Earth’s structure to generalizing global pempectives, with modem studies of other planets, which of necessity have reversed this approach, moving from observations of global features to observations or deductions concerning smaller structures. The authors have omitted references to the literature in order to avoid ‘breaking up the text’. In doing so they certainly have made the book readable, which is very important at the introductory level; however, the reader who finds a topic interesting enough to pursue further will have to look elsewhere for clues. A list of selected readings would have been a valuable addition to the volume. The senior author, John Guest, a lecturer in Physics and Astronomv at Universitv Colleae London. has been active in lunar and planetary research since the.first days of the Apollo program; his personal perspective on recent history contributes much to the overall flavor of the book. In summary, the volume is a very readable, in places downright entertaining (consider, for example, the description on p. 188 of the early astronomer Asaph Hall’s revivification), catalog of planetary surface features which have been observed in A-merican-and Soviet exploratory missions during the last 20 years. Students and others desiring an introduction to the field of planetary photogeoiogy will find the volume very rewarding.
THIS VOLUMEis an exotllcnt introduction to surface features of the Moon, Mercury and Mars, which should be comprehensible to undergraduates and useful to anyone wanting a first close look at the surfaces of other planets. The word geology in the title is a misnomer: the book is devoted entirely to a series of photogeologic essays on planetary surface features. Data from other disciplines are mentioned only when they contribute directly to the interpretation of surface features seen in pictures. Major sections discuss impact craters, maria, basins, faults, lava flows, rilles, mascons and the highlands of the Moon (49 pp.); impact craters, major basins, plains regions and the south pole of Mercury (36 pp.); and impact craters, basins, volcanoes, faults, canyons, channels, wind erosion, the poles, the moons and other features of Mars (91 pp.). Very brief sections on Venus and Jupiter’s satellites are teasers, which the authors included even though they knew that new missions would soon provide images with much better resolution than those which were available to them (the book was being completed just as Voyager I was reaching Jupiter in early 1979). The authors have been careful to point out the constraints which are imposed upon photographic interpretations by the limits of resolution of the images, and have identified many of the geological problems which currently interest researchers. I should like to have seen more space devoted to specific discussions comparing and contrasting the ways in which essentially similar geologic processes have operated to produce different kinds of features, depending upon the planetary environment. In particular, the book would have profited from a more liberal use of illustrations (I could find only one) of terrestrial features (e.g. impact craters, volcanoes, lava flows) which are analogs of the features seen on other planets and with which students of terrestrial geology are likely to be familiar in other contexts.
Handbook of Jhviroamenml isotope Gedmdtry, The Temstrial Envirommeot,A, edited by P. FRITZ CH. FONTES.Elsevier, 1980, 545 pp.. S90.25.
Lunar and Planetary Institute
RUSSEU B. MERRILL
3303 NASA Road 1 Houston, TX 77058, U.S.A.
Vol 1, and J.
COLLECTION of papers is the first of an eventual five volumes dealing with environmental isotope geochemistry. Volume 2 will also deal with the terrestrial environment, Vols 3 and 4 with the marine environment and Vol. 5 with the high temperature environment. In this volume nine of the twelve chapters concern the applications of isotope methods in hydrology and aqueous geochemistry: The isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in precipitation; Carbon-14 in hydrogeological studies; Environmental isotopes in groundwater hydrology; Environmental isotopes in ice and snow; Isotopic evidence on environments of geothermal systems; Sulphur and oxygen isotopes in aqueous sulphur compounds; Uranium disequilibrium in hydrologic studies; Oxygen and hydrogen isotope effects in iow-temperature mineral-water interactions; Environmental isotopes as environmental and chmatological indicators. The remaining three chapters are devoted to aspects of the iso-
THIS
779
tope geochemistry of particular elements: The isotopic composition of reduced organic carbon; Nitrogen-15 in the natural environment; Sulphur isotopes in our environment. Each chapter is intended to stand by itself as a review of a particular research area and is written by a specialist (or specialists) in that area. Between them the contributors to this volume demonstrate well how the abundances of stable isotopes and the activities of natural and artificially produced radioactive ones may be used as tracers of source materials and as indicators of geochemical processes and the physical and chemical conditions under which they take place. The emphasis is, as it should be, on principles, results and interpretations but the reference lists at the end of each chapter will enable the interested reader to track down details of experimental and analytical methods. The five volume series is an ambitious undertaking but will be a worthwhile one if the quality of this first volume is maintained. Department of Chemistry McMaster University Hamilton 16, Ontario, Canada US 4 Ml
C. E. REEK